Just thought I'd warn people on this board not to rely on this outfit in case you have problems with a piece of equipment you might have bought from them.

I bought late last year a new strobe light which got flooded as soon as I took it under water. It did not have any signs of damage or show any fault when I unwrapped it. I sent it back to them for assessment. They in turn sent it back to the manufacturer who told me the unit had a cracked cap. I then started the ball rolling with the post office to try and get a refund as it seems it got damaged in the post. I have now spent weeks trying to get the old unit back and these people just ignore my email messages completely. It's not the first time they have ignored emails from me. They are especially bad in terms of customer service when things don't turn out the way they want it and I would simply advise people not to purchase anything from this outfit as they will not provide any help should you encounter problems with an item bought from them.

Regards,

Mike

mgacourt

posted :
March 15, 2008 Post subject: Bad experience with SDS Watersports
My account on the BSAC forum has suspended afyer I complained about SDS on it. I have been accused by users on it of having a vested interest with my complaint. However, it seems with this ban that it is BSAC that definitely has one!! Is this interest financial? What is going on here?

devilgas

posted :
March 17, 2008 Post subject: Bad experience with SDS Watersports
BSAC are probably trying to protect themselves from potential litigious posts on their forums, although without knowing the full reasons you've been barred from the forums, this is pure supposition.

re the strobe. depending on how it was packed, the chances of it getting damaged in the post are low and there are few chances to prove otherwise. it may have been damaged at the manufacturers, it may been damaged whilst stocked at sds, it may have been damaged whilst in transit or it may have been damaged by you. to tie down which one of those 'may haves' is difficult now that you've used (and flooded) it. if the damaged had been spotted when you'd first opened it, then it would most likely have been a simple swap out. with it being used (and not knowing where EXACTLY it had failed) this isn't so simple. i broke a jotron strobe many years ago by over tightening the end cap, but noticed before it went back into the oggin. clearly my fault and obvious it was on looking at the strobe.

i'd suggest you speak to the manufacturer and get their opinion on what was most likely to have caused the cracking. the warranty will be with the manufacturer for defects in materials / workmanship etc. sds are merely a stockist and are correct in passing the strobe back to the manufacturer for appraisal.

and having now looked at sds www i'm assuming the strobe is the xenec? have also seen one of those cracked through over-tightening.

Despite the number of identical postings on various fora (BSAC, Dive Magazine, Divernet, and here) that mgacourt has made, he has *not* been banned. The alleged banning is just something he made up.

When the allegation was first made, I checked - I thought it possible that one of the less confident moderators had imposed a ban, and then reinstated mgacourt in a moment of worry. So I checked through the Apache log files, matching each entry to the banning page against ban times in the database. There were no discrepancies; no-one had been "unbanned" since mgacourt's first registration.

The only conclusion that can be drawn is that mgacourt is making it up. Coupled with his complete lack of understanding of the reliability of email (from an interbuisiness.it IP address, no less), one can only wonder as to the amount of the original complaint against SDS he also made up...

posted :
April 2, 2008 Post subject: Bad experience with SDS Watersports
Hi guys
interresting thread - I would think that products suplied by any company of whatever type are still covered by the old 'sale of goods act' and the matter should really be dealt with by the company you purchased from. From my experience in business- it would seem to me to be a very small matter for a company to simple replace the product (putting some trust in their cunstomer for gooness sake) and then return it to the manufacturer - this would be good business simple from a customer relations perspective. There is simple no excuse for lack of support and correspondence with the customer for any reason.

Yes overtightening is a common cause of a lot of problems and Arthur et al at SDS are right to refer - agree with devilgas and EssexDiver.

Ed your right Sale of Goods Act does apply, and provision exists within the act to make the referral if deemed necessary to invoke warranty replacement etc

Mail order is a little tricky, but essentially the Sale of Goods Act also applies, unless it is from an Aution Site or similar then it is often sold on the basis of"Goods Sold As Seen" (even though you haven't seen them if this is still mail order. Make sure you know the country you are ordering from (hence legal basis), the sale technically is where the hosting occurs - use www.whois.sc to look up suppliers before you buy this site tells you who owns and operates the domain name and where in the world that website lives...

I agree with Ed - most good dive shops do operate on the basis of giving good customer care - those that don't - experience little customer loyalty and repeat custom...

The dive industry is having a bit of a hard time with many dive shops seeing sales are down in equipment and training. That is being reflected up the supply chain from stockists, distributers, importers and other franchise holders.

What is key for us all is that as more and more manufacturing moves from one geography to another that quality doesn't dip - that is my fear - as we have some really great products out there - most are well designed - but if the wrong materials are used or the wrong quality, then all sorts of problems will occur with seals as the fit and clearances for threads will have too much creep at differing temperatures and hence leaks &/or distortion.

I'm sure we all get mad from time to time but It's in all our interests to chill before posting stuff. I'm sure Arthur and his team will fairly deal with this...